The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-05-20
IRREsISTHR lie.

Il Will not be untrue, she said, and her
dark eyes flashed. 81 love you, bnt | shall
not marry you
"And your reasons?" he asked, in a
voice that trembled despite his strong eff
forts to control it.
She looked at him quietly, pityingly,
and her answer rang through his very
soul.
"Because you would make my live one
long regret. Because, far in the years to
come, | foresee such utter degradation for
you as would make the lie of any woman
mad enough to give her happiness-her
fate-to your keeping a life Of such misery
that the grave would be n welcome re-
fuge.'
"You love me, and yet you can say this
to me ?"
81 could not have loved you had Idream-
ed of this before. AS | say, | will not be
untrue. | believed in You wholly. thought
You the only one I had ever known who
had touched my heart, who could awaken
in me the love q woman gives but once
in her life. | yielded myself gladly to the
knowledge Of this feeling, for ! could not
mistake your manner, your feelings to me.
| saw my influence over You with none of
the triumph ola coquette, you well know,
but with the quiet happiness of a woman
who loves truely, entirely, herself. But for
the late knowledge that the fatal cup, which
has ruined thousands, and ten of thousands,
is not strange to your lips, my heart would
be wholly yours"
"But, Margaret, your influence has such
power over me; under it, what can | not
conquer? Blessed with your love, what
might | not become >"
The beautiful lips lost their firmness of
expression, and quiyercd with strongly ex-
pressed feeling.
Il have no faith in my power, she said
sadly. "God only knows how intensely I
pity yon, but shorld so mad if | were
TEEN, respect, as well as love the man to
whom I give control of all my future"
SIS there no hope for me % he passion
ately exclaimed. care you SO cold, so
hard, that you deny me all trial-that you
refuse to believe Tor you | could conquer,
would conquer, all that stood between me
and my dearest hopes of earthly happi-
ness? Margaret. Margaret. no human
creature but yourself can 1 me. If you
refuse to listen-to believe-I care not
what gulf bears me to oblivion
Il dare not listen to you, and great
tears rolled down her checks; 81 dare not
take upon myself such VOWS as bind our
earthly fates, and feel in my heart how en-
tirely we shall yet be separated in all true
unions. must say to you, | have no faith
in the deadly infatuation of one who in
dulges in the appetite for strong drink"
lyon condemn me, then. to ruin -
II condemn you to rain. God forbid!
Harry Norton, it all remlins with your
self. | cannot conceal from you that |
think you have a hard battle before you in
life. 70 conquer that appetite-to deter
mine that you will not yield, and to abstain
llOiu I'LL tiol itiibS W ttlibt. 10 80
desires for stimulants, no matter how
weary, how worn you are with the struggle
demands the strongest will, the greatest
self-saeriice, the prayerful split, the
Christian life. Are you capable of all this =?
If you doubt yourself at all, in mercy
never tempt a woman toshare a drunkard's
life-to behold herself the mother of child
rem who will never know the beauty, the
holiness, the protection of home.
''You think | exaggerate your faults.
You do not know all that is burned as with
the stamp of fire upon my memory. The
years roll back, and | see a young, trust
ing, credulous girl who knew neither her.
self nor her needs in life, welded to a man
whose earthly prospects seemed fairer than
those of most men. But this girl, so
innocent, lovely, and trusting, learned soon
too soon!-that her whole life was
sacrificed to one whose taste for the ac-
cursed stimulants Of liquor far exceeded
his love for the woman he professed to
adore. Year after year passed on, adding
to this fatal taste additional strength. No
caresses of sweet-voiced lovely little child
rem, no delights of home, were half so dear
to this man as the one infatuation of his
life.
"This girl, always mature in mind, and
far his superior in nature, left no means
to save him. She was very at
~tractive in manner, conversation, and per-
son, and all her attractions were put in
force to save him. She concealed his
habit of intemperance for years. She
kept his faults to herself. She never
breathed aught against him. She upheld
him, strengthened him, %counselled him. II
woman's influence could have saved him
he would have been saved.
81 have seen her home taken from her.
Her children and herself wandering from
place to another, as she could best
earn their support; and this man, seem
ingly devoid ofhuman feelings, leaving her
to her own resources, while wealthy rela-
tions cared forhim.
"This woman was very near and dear to
me, and nothing upon earth coald induce
me to put myself in subsection to the pos
sibility of such a fate. You have my true
friendship, my best wishes for your well
AL~A 49,. -.